Only the Father Knows Best

Matthew 24:36-44

“Father Knows Best” was TV network show from 1954-1963. It starred Robert Young and Jane Wyatt. That father knows best could be threatening if it were that his knowledge and decisions were imposed on the family. But the father in the show was more of a “Dad” who would do a sick son’s paper route in the rain; who chose to attend a school program to see his daughter over a business meeting.

In Matthew 24, Jesus says that “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” When will this happen? Jesus says, of that, “No one knows, not even the Father in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

That can sound rather ominous. However, Jesus completes his long discourse about his return and the end of time in chapter 25. To those who have been placed on his right hand, Jesus says, “Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

The judgment for those who follow Christ does not begin with an examination of their lives, but with an announcement of their blessed future in Christ’s Kingdom. When Christ examines their lives, all he sees are the good things his followers have done for him. All our times when we haven’t done good to him and our fellow humans has been erased through Jesus death and resurrection. All that is left for Christ to review are our acts of love for one another.

Prayer: You heavenly Father know best when the end shall come. Through your Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in our faith in your Son that when you send him to return in judgment we be found living our ordinary lives as people blessed with redemption from sin and death.